Romans 8:1…

Romans 8:1…

God has a purpose for your life, and it is His purpose not yours.

When it comes to evaluating what your life should be about – major things like where you should live, or where you should work, or where you should attend church, who you should marry? God desires to be involved.

When you consider the minor things of your life – small things like who I should hang out with, what I should watch on TV, what I should listen to or read? God desires to be involved.

When you give your life completely over to God, this is called, “losing it.” When you maintain control over all or even some portion of your life, this is called, “saving it.”

Jesus said, “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”

Note the phrase, “for My sake.”

Everything in the life of the Christian should be for Christ’s sake. Everything in His life was done for your sake. Jesus accomplished His purpose by the power of the Holy Spirit, and God’s promise is you will also accomplish your purpose by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Just as Christ was directed by the Holy Spirit to give His life for yours, the Holy Spirit will direct you to give your life for His.

Now we come to the critical aspect of Christian living, which is listening to and following the voice of the Holy Spirit. This is called the ‘Law of the Spirit.’ It has everything to do with every area of your life. The Holy Spirit is the ‘Law’ for you to live your life by. This is new, and it is exciting.

But the choice is yours. You can go on living the same kind of miserable powerless existence you lived prior to allowing the Holy Spirit to bring you to Christ, or you can choose to continue to follow the same Holy Spirit Who led you to Christ – in everything.

As we have been discovering together in Romans 6 and 7, this is a learned behavior, and it usually involves some failure in the learning process. But know this: in whatever area of your life you choose to remain in control you will fail, and in every area of your life you completely yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit you will be victorious. (As Jesus said.)

In following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you are following the leading of the One Who knows you better than you know yourself, the One Who knows the future, the One Who loves you so much He died for you, and the One Who desires you be conformed to the image of Christ in every area of your life. This is sanctification, and sanctification is the process of moving from victory to victory and from glory to glory!